Henry Molaison (HM)

• What does HM stands for? And what is the importance of this abbreviation?

  Hm stands for Henry Molaison. This abbreviation was important because it demonstrates that the study did considered ethics, especially the confidentially and privacy of the patient because his real name was not reveal, until he died.
• What is a longitudinal study?

  Is a correlational research that involves repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time.
• Are case studies in group or only a single person?


  Case studies are of a single individual
• What is triangulation? And what does it involves?

  Triangulation involves using multiple data sources, multiple researchers or multiple research methods in an investigation to reach a richer understanding of a behaviour or cognitive process.
• When did the case study started and when did it ended?

  1957-2015
• What does the HM provides evidence for?

  It provided evidence for the normal memory function, and its dependence on the medial temporal lobe.
• What happened to HM, that it made a big damage to his brain?

  When he was 7 years old, he had a serious injury when he felt of a bike. At his 10 years, he started having epileptic attacks, then he was 27 years old, he could not have a normal life, because each time epileptic attacks were incrementing and his medicines were not doing effect. He had an operation from a neurosurgeon "William Scoville", who removed from his medial temporal lobe his hippocampus from both sides.
• What scans were done to test his brain activity?

  MRI studies were done to HM, which indicated that his lesion was symmetrical and included the medial temporal cortex.
• Who was in charged for HM's study? And until when?

  Brenda Milner was uncharged until 2008 that HM died.
• What happened after HM's hippocampus operation?

  His personality changed, and he developed anterograde amnesia. He wasn't able to transfer information from short-term memory to long-term memory.
• What conclusions were created after the extraction of HM's hippocampus?

  "These findings reinforce the view that lesions of the hippocampal formation and cortical structures could produce memory impairment and global or enduring amnesia. The findings suggested that the establishment of memory had a distinct neural substrate; memory for new experiences was disturbed, but the cognitive functions and sensory capacities were unimpaired...."
• What were the different strategies that Miller used in this case study?

  1. Psychometric testing

  2. Observation of his behavior

  3. Interviews with both HM and with his family.

  4. Cognitive testing: He did some memory tests to see his learning and memory skills, unconsciously he was able to draw a star with the reverse mirror.

  5. Corkin (1997) did an MRI to determine the extent of the damage done to HM's brain.
• What types of technology were used on HM? Give the complete name of the technology

  MRI: Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Was HM's hypocampus completely removed?

  The preserved hippocampus on the left, even though histologically normal, was not sufficient to support normal memory function.
• What did HM remember really good after his operation?


  He remembered his childhood.
• What did anterograde amnesia made in HM?

  He wasn't able to remember people he saw five minutes ago, or someone he has seen before, all this counts after his operation.
• What were the findings?

  1. The memory systems in the brain didn't worked as he should

  2. The hippocampus plays a critical role in converting memories of experiences from short-term memory to long-term memory.

  3. Since HM was able to retain some memories for events that happened long before his surgery it means that the medial temporal region didn't was that much injured. We can also infer, that there ir another part in the brain were memory is stored.
• How much time was the case study worked?

  Over 50 years.
• What are the limitations of the case study?


  It can not be easily replicated
• Who were the people that reported the case study of describing the nature of the memory defect?. Who was first, second...?

  1. The people that started this research was Scoville and Milner

  2. Then the investigation was continued with Penfield
• What did the paper (research) highlighted about why was this problem made?

  The papers highlight that because of a extensive bilateral surgical extension of the hippocampus, and of the hippocampal gyrus, and this caused a sever and lasting memory loss
• What was the result from the MRI?

  The result was that the lesion was bilaterally symmetrical, and included de medial temporal polar cortex, most of the amygdaloidal complex, most of the entorthial cortex, and approximately half of the rostrocardual extent of the intra ventricular portion of the hippocampal formation.
• Byeeee


  Thankyou for answering